The Library
1774 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
200–101 BC
1 work
c. 160–100 BC
Greek
Anonymous
The oldest Jewish Sibylline book, written in Egypt in Homeric hexameters: the empires rise and fall, the seventh king of Greek descent will come, and at the end the nations will send gifts to the temple and the earth will bear its fruit without cutting.
100–1 BC
3 works
c. 100 BC
Hebrew
1QSa
Anonymous
Two columns setting out how Israel is to be ordered in the last days — the ages at which a man may marry, testify, and hold office — closing with the seating at the messianic banquet, where the priest blesses the bread and wine first and the Messiah of Israel reaches out after him.
c. 63–40 BC
Hebrew, surviving in Greek
Anonymous
Eighteen psalms written after Pompey took Jerusalem, mourning a sanctuary trampled by Gentiles and a throne usurped by men with no right to it — and asking God to raise up the son of David to purge Jerusalem, shatter unrighteous rulers with a rod of iron, and gather a holy people.
c. 50–1 BC
Aramaic
4Q246
Anonymous
Two damaged columns in which a figure before a king is said to be called great, to be named Son of God and Son of the Most High, and whose kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom. Whether the figure is a messiah or a blasphemous usurper is unresolvable from what survives.
1–100
1 work
Jewish core, Christian recension c. AD 100–200
Greek
Anonymous
Each of Jacob's sons gathers his children and confesses the sin that defined him — Reuben lust, Simeon envy, Judah greed and drink — then warns against it and foretells what will come. Passages about a saviour from Levi and Judah sit in the text as it stands.
601–700
1 work
c. 630
Hebrew
Anonymous
Written as Persians and Byzantines fought over Jerusalem. Zerubbabel is shown the end: a Messiah son of Joseph who dies in battle, a Messiah son of David who does not, Hephzibah the mother of the Messiah fighting with a staff, and Armilus, a monster begotten on a stone statue, whom the nations worship.
6 of 1774 works